NOTES BY FORWARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2168, 12 September 1895, Page 33

NOTES BY FORWARD.

• . • A match under the Association rules was played recently at Invercargill between the Hokonui and Pioneers clubs, each side scoring two goals. Mr Kingston, !a y e of Dunedin, ected as rt-ftree. A correspondent in Invercarjoll writes with reference to the conUsb: "A'though the game was somewhat marred by the high wind I think we managed to pick up a few admirers of the Association game." • . • The high wind thai prtv»iled on the 4th iust spoiled to a largo 'extent the play in the annual match between Christ's College and the High School, aud tho coiit>-s!i was singularly uuii.teresting. The School were expected to wiu, but it is questionable whether they I deaeived to win. Their northern opponents played a plucky geme, and it was hard lines on them that (»t the very la»t moment they should have a try scored against them. There was no J pliyer on either bide who took a very prominent | part in the game which all through waß of a doll ! description. From the following lifit, showing the re ult3 of the matches between the two institutions since their initiation, it will be seen that of thirteen matches played all bub ftur have been won by the High School : — 1883, at Dunedin.— College won by one try (2 J pointb) to nil. Ifcß4, at Chi Utcliurcli.— College won by two goals one try (11 p i»ts) to one try (i points). 1885, ;it Duneclin.— School won by one goal one try (ti poiuts) to nil. las/j, at Chriatcburoh —School won by two goalu two trie** (13 points) to nil. 1887, at Dunedin.— College won by two goals one try (7 point-) to one goal one try 01 points). 1888, at Christcburch.— College won by one goal (3 points) to one try (I point). 18S9, at Dunedin.— School won by five goals three tries (18 poiDti) to nil. l^O, at Cbristohuvch.— School won )>y three goals one try (10 points) to nno t>y (I )>oii»O. 18'J1, at IHi'ie Mv — !*iiio 1 won I\V ioi.r gonlrf two tiies (11 pAt. t ) l-> two go-ih ole try (7 point-). 1892, at Christchurch.— S'cbool w^n by six tries (12 points) to one try (2 poi'itt). 18'.U, at Dunedin. —School won I>y one goal lluec tries (10 points) to one grul (5 pointb). 1891, at Chriatchui.-h — .-cbool won by three goals one try (l(j poin'h) to «.nc tiy ('A points). 18'.>5, at Duuudiu.— School won by ouo try (3 points) to nil. ' , ' The Canterbury representatives now wear crsoys iv which broad red and black hoops

replace the somewhat narrow bars of old. Th* effect of the broad stripes is strikingly good. ' . ' The Eaikordi Club has, «inco its afiiilia* tion with the O II F.U., played 118 matches, ol | which it has won no fewer thau 90, aud it has lost only six, 22 having been drawn. The club has sc rc\ 1061 uoiuts. »ud opposing teams have only succctdud inputting up 114 points against it. ' . • Tho Canterbury team reckon that one man won the match for Otago last Saturday, und that man whs the local captain. Duncan played one of his bent games, and that means i that he placed a auperia'ively good game. The piece tf work txecut^d by biin which led up to Stephensou's try \va.s remarkably fit.o. Certain it is that in the threo iiicprovincial matches played on the Caledonian ground this season I there has beun no bettu- back playing than Duncan. ■ . • The special correspondent of the Auckland Star, wh>was ou tour with the team from the northern capital, delares «-hat " Ronayne was ordered off the field at Chriatchureh for renurking that tbe referee, Mr Firth, who is except i-jinlly tall, was long enough to see an infringement which the Auckltnders had appealed for. Ho was uot ordered iff for continuous mibbchavour, as repo'rtoil." • . • Favoured as they were with good weather —excepting on Saturday morning and Sunday night— while in Dunedin, tbe Cauterbuiy le>ra were enabled to make the moot of four time in Dunedin. They had a practice on Friday forenoon, and in the afternoon they had a very pleasant drive to the Kaikorai Valley, where they were shown over the Koslyn Woollen Mill* under tho guidaaco of Mr It C. Gloadining, returning to town by w»y of Burnside, Intho eveninjr tht-y werj present by ii.vitation ab the North Eud boating Club's carnival, where Co.wlisb.aw beci'mj the poss.-ss)r of tbe toy I elepbanfc, which on tho following afieraoun was I boru at the top of tho visitor's banuer pole. j AfU-r the match on Saturday the opposing j tcims, with a few frienda, dined together at the Crite»ioa Hotel. The to^t list was short, and the speeches were longer than are usually made , by footballers. The singing of Mots;B A; plsby, | Stepheuson, Stiir.g^r, Roea, Montgomoiy, and others was much appreciated. Ou Sunday the Cfcnterbury players were taken by boat to l'orto« bello, wb.t re, the weather being beautiful, a very pleasant time wbs spent;, all of tho<e present wholly enjoying tho luxury of a "jo'lygood locf "and of spending the d*y in a qukt way in a secluded spot. • . • The Aucklaud representative team's tour was concluded lasb week with » drawn ra»tch with Taranaki. Tho Ancklandcr* played seven matches away from home, of which they won three aud lo»t throe, one being drawn— nud tho drawu m\tch was the greatest feather iv their caps, beiug agaitsb the team which wis last sohhoii the btrougest under the jurisdiction of the New Zealand Union. Tho following shows the results ot tho matches plcy-d by Vie A tick- and team : — August 17, v. Hawke's Baj\— Auekltm.l won bj two goals (10 points) to one try ( 3 poiut<) August 20, v. fcoulh Canterbury.— Auckland won by xhree tries (9 points) to nil. Auguat 21, v. OUgo.— Otago won by two goals and one try (11 points) to one goal aud oiw try (8 nointd). August 29. v. Canterbury.— Cantcrbmy won by three goals (10 points-) to >n7. August :U, v. Wellington — Wellii gtou won by three trie-i (9 poiutt) to one goal (5 ptiuU) September 2, v. Nelson. -Auckland won by three tries (9 points) to one try (3 points). September 5, v Tarauaki.-- Drawn gime : no score. Summary : Matches played, 7 ; won, 3 ; lyst, 3 J drawn, 1 ; poiats for, 41 ; points ugaiust, 3G. | • . • The O. R.F.U. having declared the Kaikorai Clnb to be the winuor of lh-» S nior Plug, th*j pressnt is an opportune liuuo for setuug out before the readtrd vf th-jse notes the. club's record for tbe clo&uig feasou. Is Fiisl Fifteen played uiue matches (eight of them being in the Flag competitiou), and of these it won 6evtn, the other two b&iag drawu. The club scored 160 points, and had only 4 poiuts (a potted goal) recorded against it. Th*s following slows the reenltfl of the sever*! matches — May 11, v. Cayerßlmm.--Won by four goals and four trli-b (32 points) to nil May 18, v. Pirates.— Won by one goal and live tries (10 points) to nil. May 25, v. Linwood (Christchurch) — Won by one tiy (3 points) tonil. June 1, v. University.— Won by two goals and four tries (22 point*) to nil. June 8, y. Union.— Won by one goal and six tries (23 point*) to nit. Juno 22, v. Dunedin.— Drawn match ; no score. July 13, v. Pirates.— Won by five goals aud gix tries (43 points) to »»i/. July 20, v. Union— Won by six tries ,(\8 points) to one goal (4 point). July 27, v. Alhambra.— Drawn match ; no score. • . ' The attendance last Saturday at (ho match" between Canteibuiy aud Otago was not quite so large as the match with Auckland produced, but tbe coincidence of the fixuee with tbe Hunt Club races— to say nothing of the threatening weather — was quit-j 6ufficient to account for the difference iv the numbers of thoso present. On the other hand, it slould be mentioned that it was generally felt that a special intere»t attached to l*st Saturday's m*toh, for the reason that the cbamp>on%hip of the colony was practically at stake, inacmuch at Taranaki, atter a draw with Wellu g ou, who had previously be*n beaten by Canttrbuiy, were only able lo draw with the Auckland team, which bad been successively defeated by Obago, Canterbury, and Wellington. Under these circumstances a victory by Otago— gained though it wa* by a very narrow margin— was very gratifying to lo>al resideufcs in Olago, aud particularly to those who, like myself, have all alo* g held the opinion that the quality of Otago foi>tb»ll was not iDJutiou-ly affected by the fact that the O. R.F.U. to loDg held aloof from the body whose headquu'ie'S are in Wellington. The play on both sidis was more thaa moderately h*rd, but it was good tempotd all through, and proof was in various ways abundantly afforded during tbe visit of the Canterbury te«nn that the cordial relations which have long been maintained between the football players on the north aud thO3e on the couth of tho Waithki have survived the strain which, through the actiou of the New Zealand Union, was last year put upon them. Messrs A. Hobbs and F. T. Evanp, speaking at tbe football dinner last Saturday evening, both voiced tho kiudly feelir»g« of Canterbury footballers towards their Oiago brethren, aud these expressions of goodwill were cordially reciprt Cited. • . • The Canterbury team should certainly not have been allowed to get their last try, jnafc on the call of time, which was converted by Appleby, whose reliability as a place-kick gained for him great respect. From an Otago point of view a victory by 13 points to 6 would have been so much mom satisfactory than only 13 1011, rnt only br-cause it would be more p'.efcs-m^ to stie the B'uta win by a larger margin, but also because then the vain regrets whih were exorefs-id by tUe members of the visiting team, who ascribed mistakes to the referee, would not have been utteved with as much emphiiMs rs was given to them. It v.as complained that the referee made a mistake in allowing Mackenzie his try early in the fir6t spell— that touch in goal should have been declared. It was fur-the* complained that tbe referee msde a mi6r*l«*a»

Showing Stophcnaon his try in the second Bpell it being alleged that the ball was knocked on by him. To the first complaint Mr Campbell— whose honesty in the matter was, it ehould be Explained, not for a rcomenfc questioned — had what seemed to me a perfectly good aud satisfactory reply. Msictacz'e put the bsll down "on the ground"— to quote the rule— •" in his opponents' in-goal," and the touch judge, being 'appealed to by the referee, abated that tie jplayer mentioned had not gone into touch. As to tho sec nd" complaint, Mr Campbell is absolutely positive that Bteph«nson did not knock the ball on, aud that whit h^pi oued was that Cowlishaw knocked it back. Oowlishaw says lie did cot touch the ball. On that point there is a confi'ct of statement. It is inoviUble that in a closely-contested end exciting game there ehould bo numerous conflicts of statement as to the actual occurrences in especially exciting moo>en<B, and it is at Joust a debatable point whether the statement of the man who was a mere witness is not more iikcly to be more trusfcVrorthy than the sts tement of the man who was j in the thick of ths conflict. In this connection I may point out that it has been laid down by the English Union that " the referee's decision as to time is final, even though ho has kept it inaccurately," .and that the Otago teim with quite as much justice have objectad to the try obtained by Cowliehaw, and converted by Appleby, after Mr Campbell had blown his whistle for the first time. ! • . • The Otsgo forwards wore rather found wanting in tbe match. They had done so brilliantly againet Auckland that great aohievvments were expected of them, but they did not realise expectations. Tho Canterbury forwards, on the other hand, who h*d been somewhat discredited in Dunedin by the report Vhat they were inferior to those in the Auckland team, played a splendid game. Ido not like the wing forward play which the Canterbury Union, along with other northern unions, thinks it advisable to encourage, and its advantages were not particularly obvious on Saturday. If tho visitors had had two extra , lorammagers instead of having Oram standing out as a sort of extra half back and Johnston tanging on the onfakirts of the scrum their play would, I *m eura, not have suffered, -while if tbe Otago forwards bad played with tbe same dash as they showed • fortnight previously the opposing pack wonld have been crippled by reason of its numerical weakness. Fraser, K«rr, and Appleby were regarded by members of the Canterbury ttatn- as the pick of the visiting forwards, and GiveD, D. Torrauce, and Priest were as prominent as any on the Ot*go »id«, but none stood out head and shoulders above the rest. Davis met with a nasty injury «hortly after the commencement of the match, and to this waa perhaps attributable the fact that hid play raised doubts ao to the wisdom of tbe change made by the O.R.F.U. Match Com- j jnittee in the position of scrum half back in the Blues' team. He did not vary his pUy so much as Mason bad done in the previous matches, but he gave some excellent passes to Duncan, whose fine exhibition waß a splendid feature of the match. The Otago captain is an admirable tactician, and his methods frequently puzzled the Canterbury players, who, however, "got hack on him" very neatly in the last few minutes cf tho game, when, massing their backs on the left side of the ecrum, they successfully adopted a plan which the Otago captain bad used with good i ffcot earlier in the struggle. * . * The great disappointment of the Otago back team was Ross, whose play was not worthy of his reputation or himself. He did some good work, bit its value was discounted by the mistake*, or errors of judgment, he committed. One of these errors occurred jaflt be-fore the close of the game, when he received the b«ll ■with plenty of room in which to get his wick into touch. Instead of kicking he dodged just one way and then another and was than tackled. Ross himself considers that in this rtspect he did not commit an error of judgment, his argument being that if his k ; ck had sot found the touch line the Reds w<.uld bave secured the bail and he would h&ve been outnumbered. I believe he made a miotaUe in not kicking, and at he was not pressed for time he should have been able v ifchout fail to have got the ball into touch. I did not think Cunpiugham should have been pieV-d, and all the more gladly on that account do I wish to give him credit for his ofl>n«ive play. His defensive work wm less s»tU factory, bat there it was that Cran and Stephen' on both shone, each of them showing up well also in the other department. Mackenzie was kept fairly busy, and did admirable work all through. On the Canterbury pidf Orcbard played a splendid game at full back. ,His kicking wat consistently good, his coolnesi was remarkable, and his defence was safe. Stringer was the most prominent of the three-quarter backs, tbe bulk of the work going his way. He made some slips, bat bis dodgy, fast running made him a thorn in the side of the Blue.*, and altogether he gave a capital account of him* elf. His build and style of play reminded many spectator* of Gage, of the Auckland team. Hcbbi, who was tho veteran as well ns tbe captain of the Canterbury team, Bhowed little, if any, sign of deterioration in bis play. His fielding was sometimes at fault, but he ran and parsed well Cowliehaw's forte is his offensive play, in which his epeed, weight, and strength make him very for- . xnidabie. Price, who took the place of Glendiniug at half back — the latter having only arrived from Christ churrh on Friday night, after playing a game last Thursday— fed well to White, who showed distinctly good form in his position. • . • On the authority of the Christ's College team, " who are reported to have loit their Dunedin match by a try to nil," the following statement as to how tbe try was obtained against them is published in thePrees :—": — " Just on time a scrum was formed on the College lines, and, as was uiual in such a case, the forwards heeled over the line and the half forced. Mr A. Downes, the referee, decided in favour of the School's appeal for carried over, and ordered a new scrum. From this the Otago half secured powse'sion, and backing through his forwards dropped, over the Hue. The College astert that they were justified in heeling out and forcing, as case law, page 89, Canterbury R.U. Annual, distinctly states th*t if the b<dl is heeled oat it is not to be taken ai carried over. Hnd a force down been allowed the game tnnst have ended in a draw, as time was called when the School scored." Where the editor of the Canterbury Union's annual obtained the ruliDg that "if the bill is heeled out it is not to be taken as carried over" I do not know, but fthat ruling is in direct conflict with the English Union's d e'sinn (which is to be f<und in the case law fm^odied in the Cavtfrbury annual as well as in th*t iv the O.R F U. annual) that the law ji ohibiting a player kicking, pussing, knocking, or carrying the ball back across his goal line and there making it dead is intended to deal with active not passive cues. Tbis latter decuion U included in the rulings contained in the last anuuariFsued by the Bnglieb Union. Heeiing a ball back comes under the category of active citsee. and therefore Mr DowneH was right iv his ruling. In tbe interprovincial match on Saturday it wan agreed between the teams, at the request of the Canter- j kury captain, thatit ehoald be permissible for

the defending side to hoel out from a scrum ou the line so as to touch down, and the Otago team took advantage of the agreement to thus save themselves on one occasion. • . • The weekly meeting of the committee of the Otago Rugby Union, held on Monday, was attended by Messrs G^llaway (chairman), Duncan, If a«C3, Montgomery, Strong, Torrnnoe, and Hutchison. It was agreed that the final match in the Junior Flag ooutest be played next Saturday, commencing at 2 40 p.m., and to be followed by a trial match in view of the approaching return match with Southland. A j letter was read from the Warehousemen Club to the effect that all tbe players representing it in the semi-final of the Juanr Fh>g match were bona jide members of tha club. A letter from the Union Club with reference to the resolution of the Referees' Association to send none of its members to the North ground until an assurance was received that referees woukl be protected from insult from tbe spectators was referred to the sswaktlon. ; • . • The Ofcago Football Association have received permission from Mr J. C. Uusaok, secretary of the New Zeal aud Cyclists' Alliance, to hold two bicjele races under their rules ou the Carisbxook ground next Saturday in connection with the Charity Banner final tie. A large numbe of entries are expected from the Otago aud Duncdiu Cjcting Clubs. • . • A mixed team of the Pirateß played the B*lolutha Club on Saturday, at Cfcrisbrook, and after a fast aud c ratting game won by 21 point 6 to 13 For the Pira'es Gregg (after a flue run), Maoarthnr, Mucaseey, and Roberts scored, and Mucaseey converted two and M atheson one try. Mason, Lattimore, end Lynch * cored tries for Cluthft, and Finn, with fine kicks, converted two. Besides the above Hay, Matheson, and Inder for the Backs, and Bain and Dunne for tbe Colours played well. The Clutha forwards played a fine game and were superior to the Blacks, but the passing of the Pirates' backs evontually won them the game. • . • The m*tch Roslyu Second v. Rangers Second, which decided the premiership of the jutiior clubs for this season, was played on the Exhibition ground before a goodly number of spectators. In the first epell the Roslyn, plajing with a slight wind in their favour, made the game very fast, Turner, Omand, Dobson, and Calder each scoring a goal for their Bide. In the second spell the game was in favour of the R»ngc», Duncan and Fleming snoring for their side. For the Ko«lyn Dobson and Turner were the best of the forwards, and Armitage and Aitken of the backs. For the Rangers Duncan and Fleming (forwards) and M'Nair and M'lndoe (b*ck«) played well. The game ended in a win for Roslyn by 4 goals to 2. Mr Rodgers gave every satisfaction as referee.